The conference at Yalta in the Crimea (February 4-11, 1945) brought together the Big Three Allied leaders again.
With victory close at hand, Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt discussed Europe's postwar reorganization. High on their agenda was organizing the occupation of Germany. Britain suggested France as one of the occupiers, a move Stalin resisted but eventually accepted.
The Soviets reaffirmed their intention to fight Japan and in return expected to receive occupation areas in the East. The Allies also agreed to install a representative government in Poland.
Yalta has long been a subject of controversy because of what some historians consider undue concessions to the Soviet Union.
Protocol of Proceedings of Crimea Conference
The Crimea Conference of the heads of the Governments of the
United States of America, the United Kingdom, and the Union
of Soviet Socialist Republics, which took place from Feb. 4
to 11, came to the following conclusions:
I. WORLD ORGANIZATION
It was decided:
1. That a United Nations conference on the proposed world
organization should be summoned for Wednesday, 25 April,
1945, and should be held in the United States of America.
2. The nations to be invited to this conference should be:
(a) the United Nations as they existed on 8 Feb., 1945; and
(b) Such of the Associated Nations as have declared war on
the common enemy by 1 March, 1945. (For this purpose, by the
term "Associated Nations" was meant the eight Associated
Nations and Turkey.) When the conference on world
organization is held, the delegates of the United Kingdom and
United State of America will support a proposal to admit to
original membership two Soviet Socialist Republics, i.e., the
Ukraine and White Russia.
3. That the United States Government, on behalf of the three
powers, should consult the Government of China and the French
Provisional Government in regard to decisions taken at the
present conference concerning the proposed world
organization.
4. That the text of the invitation to be issued to all the
nations which would take part in the United Nations
conference should be as follows:
"The Government of the United States of America, on behalf of
itself and of the Governments of the United Kingdom, the
Union of Soviet Socialistic Republics and the Republic of
China and of the Provisional Government of the French
Republic invite the Government of -------- to send
representatives to a conference to be held on 25 April, 1945,
or soon thereafter , at San Francisco, in the United States
of America, to prepare a charter for a general international
organization for the maintenance of international peace and
security.
"The above-named Governments suggest that the conference
consider as affording a basis for such a Charter the
proposals for the establishment of a general international
organization which were made public last October as a result
of the Dumbarton Oaks conference and which have now been
supplemented by the following provisions for Section C of
Chapter VI:
C. Voting
"1. Each member of the Security Council should have one vote.
"2. Decisions of the Security Council on procedural matters
should be made by an affirmative vote of seven members.
"3. Decisions of the Security Council on all matters should
be made by an affirmative vote of seven members, including
the concurring votes of the permanent members; provided that,
in decisions under Chapter VIII, Section A and under the
second sentence of Paragraph 1 of Chapter VIII, Section C, a
party to a dispute should abstain from voting.'
"Further information as to arrangements will be transmitted
subsequently.
"In the event that the Government of -------- desires in
advance of the conference to present views or comments
concerning the proposals, the Government of the United States
of America will be pleased to transmit such views and
comments to the other participating Governments."
Territorial trusteeship:
It was agreed that the five nations which will have permanent
seats on the Security Council should consult each other prior
to the United Nations conference on the question of
territorial trusteeship.
The acceptance of this recommendation is subject to its being
made clear that territorial trusteeship will only apply to
(a) existing mandates of the League of Nations;
(b) territories detached from the enemy as a result of the
present war;
(c) any other territory which might voluntarily be placed
under trusteeship; and
(d) no discussion of actual territories is contemplated at
the forthcoming United Nations conference or in the
preliminary consultations, and it will be a matter for
subsequent agreement which territories within the above
categories will be place under trusteeship.
[Begin first section published Feb., 13, 1945.]
II. DECLARATION OF LIBERATED EUROPE
The following declaration has been approved:
The Premier of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the President of the
United States of America have consulted with each other in
the common interests of the people of their countries and
those of liberated Europe. They jointly declare their mutual
agreement to concert during the temporary period of
instability in liberated Europe the policies of their three
Governments in assisting the peoples liberated from the
domination of Nazi Germany and the peoples of the former Axis
satellite states of Europe to solve by democratic means their
pressing political and economic problems.
The establishment of order in Europe and the rebuilding of
national economic life must be achieved by processes which
will enable the liberated peoples to destroy the last
vestiges of nazism and fascism and to create democratic
institutions of their own choice. This is a principle of the
Atlantic Charter - the right of all people to choose the form
of government under which they will live - the restoration of
sovereign rights and self-government to those peoples who
have been forcibly deprived to them by the aggressor nations.
To foster the conditions in which the liberated people may
exercise these rights, the three governments will jointly
assist the people in any European liberated state or former
Axis state in Europe where, in their judgment conditions
require,
(a) to establish conditions of internal peace;
(b) to carry out emergency relief measures for the relief of
distressed peoples;
(c) to form interim governmental authorities broadly
representative of all democratic elements in the population
and pledged to the earliest possible establishment through
free elections of Governments responsive to the will of the
people; and
(d) to facilitate where necessary the holding of such
elections.
The three Governments will consult the other United Nations
and provisional authorities or other Governments in
Europe when matters of direct interest to them are under
consideration.
When, in the opinion of the three Governments, conditions in
any European liberated state or former Axis satellite in
Europe make such action necessary, they will immediately
consult together on the measure necessary to discharge the
joint responsibilities set forth in this declaration.
By this declaration we reaffirm our faith in the principles
of the Atlantic Charter, our pledge in the Declaration by the
United Nations and our determination to build in cooperation
with other peace-loving nations world order, under law,
dedicated to peace, security, freedom and general well-being
of all mankind.
In issuing this declaration, the three powers express the
hope that the Provisional Government of the French Republic
may be associated with them in the procedure suggested.
[End first section published February, 13, 1945.]
III. DISMEMBERMENT OF GERMANY
It was agreed that Article 12 (a) of the Surrender terms for
Germany should be amended to read as follows:
"The United Kingdom, the United States of America and the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics shall possess supreme
authority with respect to Germany. In the exercise of such
authority they will take such steps, including the complete
dismemberment of Germany as they deem requisite for future
peace and security."
The study of the procedure of the dismemberment of Germany
was referred to a committee consisting of Mr. Anthony Eden,
Mr. John Winant, and Mr. Fedor T. Gusev. This body would
consider the desirability of associating with it a French
representative.
IV. ZONE OF OCCUPATION FOR THE FRENCH AND CONTROL COUNCIL FOR
GERMANY.
It was agreed that a zone in Germany, to be occupied by the
French forces, should be allocated France. This zone would be
formed out of the British and American zones and its extent
would be settled by the British and Americans in consultation
with the French Provisional Government.
It was also agreed that the French Provisional Government
should be invited to become a member of the Allied Control
Council for Germany.
V. REPARATION
The following protocol has been approved:
Protocol
On the Talks Between the Heads of Three Governments at the
Crimean Conference on the Question of the German Reparations
in Kind
1. Germany must pay in kind for the losses caused by her to
the Allied nations in the course of the war. Reparations are
to be received in the first instance by those countries which
have borne the main burden of the war have suffered the
heaviest losses and have organized victory over the enemy.
2. Reparation in kind is to be exacted from Germany in three
following forms:
(a) Removals within two years from the surrender of Germany
or the cessation of organized resistance from the national
wealth of Germany located on the territory of Germany herself
as well as outside her territory (equipment, machine tools,
ships, rolling stock, German investments abroad, shares of
industrial, transport and other enterprises in Germany,
etc.), these removals to be carried out chiefly for the
purpose of destroying the war potential of Germany.
(b) Annual deliveries of goods from current production for a
period to be fixed.
(c) Use of German labor.
3. For the working out on the above principles of a detailed
plan for exaction of reparation from Germany an Allied
reparation commission will be set up in Moscow. It will
consist of three representatives - one from the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics, one from the United Kingdom and
one from the United States of America.
4. With regard to the fixing of the total sum of the
reparation as well as the distribution of it among the
countries which suffered from the German aggression, the
Soviet and American delegations agreed as follows:
"The Moscow reparation commission should take in its initial
studies as a basis for discussion the suggestion of the
Soviet Government that the total sum of the reparation in
accordance with the points (a) and (b) of the Paragraph 2
should be 22 billion dollars and that 50 per cent should go
to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics."
The British delegation was of the opinion that, pending
consideration of the reparation question by the Moscow
reparation commission, no figures of reparation should be
mentioned.
The above Soviet-American proposal has been passed to the
Moscow reparation commission as one of the proposals to be
considered by the commission.
VI. MAJOR WAR CRIMINALS
The conference agreed that the question of the major war
criminals should be the subject of inquiry by the three
Foreign Secretaries for report in due course after the close
of the conference.
[Begin second section published February 13, 1945.]
VII. POLAND
The following declaration on Poland was agreed by the
conference:
"A new situation has been created in Poland as a result of
her complete liberation by the Red Army. This calls for the
establishment of a Polish Provisional Government which can be
more broadly based than was possible before the recent
liberation of the western part of Poland. The Provisional
Government which is now functioning in Poland should
therefore be reorganized on a broader democratic basis with
the inclusion of democratic leaders from Poland itself and
from Poles abroad. This new Government should then be called
the Polish Provisional Government of National Unity.
"M. Molotov, Mr. Harriman and Sir A. Clark Kerr are
authorized as a commission to consult in the first instance
in Moscow with members of the present Provisional Government
and with other Polish democratic leaders from within Poland
and from abroad, with a view to the reorganization of the
present Government along the above lines. This Polish
Provisional Government of National Unity shall be pledged to
the holding of free and unfettered elections as soon as
possible on the basis of universal suffrage and secret
ballot. In these elections all democratic and anti-Nazi
parties shall have the right to take part and to put forward
candidates.
"When a Polish Provisional of Government National Unity has
been properly formed in conformity with the above, the
Government of the U.S.S.R., which now maintains diplomatic
relations with the present Provisional Government of Poland,
and the Government of the United Kingdom and the Government
of the United States of America will establish diplomatic
relations with the new Polish Provisional Government National
Unity, and will exchange Ambassadors by whose reports the
respective Governments will be kept informed about the
situation in Poland.
"The three heads of Government consider that the eastern
frontier of Poland should follow the Curzon Line with
digressions from it in some regions of five to eight
kilometers in favor of Poland. They recognize that Poland
must receive substantial accessions in territory in the north
and west. They feel that the opinion of the new Polish
Provisional Government of National Unity should be sought in
due course of the extent of these accessions and that the
final delimitation of the western frontier of Poland should
thereafter await the peace conference."
VIII. YUGOSLAVIA
It was agreed to recommend to Marshal Tito and to Dr. Ivan
Subasitch:
(a) That the Tito-Subasitch agreement should immediately be
put into effect and a new government formed on the basis of
the agreement.
(b) That as soon as the new Government has been formed it
should declare:
(I) That the Anti-Fascist Assembly of the National Liberation
(AVNOJ) will be extended to include members of the last
Yugoslav Skupstina who have not compromised themselves by
collaboration with the enemy, thus forming a body to be known
as a temporary Parliament and (II) That legislative acts
passed by the Anti-Fascist Assembly of the National
Liberation (AVNOJ) will be subject to subsequent ratification
by a Constituent Assembly; and that this statement should be
published in the communiquŽ of the conference.
IX. ITALO-YUGOSLAV FRONTIER - ITALO-AUSTRIAN FRONTIER
Notes on these subjects were put in by the British delegation
and the American and Soviet delegations agreed to consider
them and give their views later.
X. YUGOSLAV-BULGARIAN RELATIONS
There was an exchange of views between the Foreign
Secretaries on the question of the desirability of a
Yugoslav-Bulgarian pact of alliance. The question at issue
was whether a state still under an armistice regime could be
allowed to enter into a treaty with another state. Mr. Eden
suggested that the Bulgarian and Yugoslav Governments should
be informed that this could not be approved. Mr. Stettinius
suggested that the British and American Ambassadors should
discuss the matter further with Mr. Molotov in Moscow. Mr.
Molotov agreed with the proposal of Mr. Stettinius.
XI. SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
The British delegation put in notes for the consideration of
their colleagues on the following subjects:
(a) The Control Commission in Bulgaria.
(b) Greek claims upon Bulgaria, more particularly with
reference to reparations.
(c) Oil equipment in Rumania.
XII. IRAN
Mr. Eden, Mr. Stettinius and Mr. Molotov exchanged views on
the situation in Iran. It was agreed that this matter should
be pursued through the diplomatic channel.
[Begin third section published February 13, 1945.]
XIII. MEETINGS OF THE THREE FOREIGN SECRETARIES
The conference agreed that permanent machinery should be set
up for consultation between the three Foreign Secretaries;
they should meet as often as necessary, probably about every
three or four months.
These meetings will be held in rotation in the three
capitals, the first meeting being held in London.
[End third section published February 13, 1945.]
XIV. THE MONTREAUX CONVENTION AND THE STRAITS
It was agreed that at the next meeting of the three Foreign
Secretaries to be held in London, they should consider
proposals which it was understood the Soviet Government would
put forward in relation to the Montreaux Convention, and
report to their Governments. The Turkish Government should be
informed at the appropriate moment. The forgoing protocol
was approved and signed by the three Foreign Secretaries at
the Crimean Conference February 11, 1945.
E. R. Stettinius Jr.
M. Molotov
Anthony Eden
AGREEMENT REGARDING JAPAN
The leaders of the three great powers - the Soviet Union, the
United States of America and Great Britain - have agreed that
in two or three months after Germany has surrendered and the
war in Europe is terminated, the Soviet Union shall enter
into war against Japan on the side of the Allies on condition
that:
1. The status quo in Outer Mongolia (the Mongolian People's
Republic) shall be preserved.
2. The former rights of Russia violated by the treacherous
attack of Japan in 1904 shall be restored, viz.:
(a) The southern part of Sakhalin as well as the islands
adjacent to it shall be returned to the Soviet Union;
(b) The commercial port of Dairen shall be internationalized,
the pre-eminent interests of the Soviet Union in this port
being safeguarded, and the lease of Port Arthur as a naval
base of the U.S.S.R. restored;
(c) The Chinese-Eastern Railroad and the South Manchurian
Railroad, which provide an outlet to Dairen, shall be jointly
operated by the establishment of a joint Soviet-Chinese
company, it being understood that the pre-eminent interests
of the Soviet Union shall be safeguarded and that China shall
retain sovereignty in Manchuria;
3. The Kurile Islands shall be handed over to the Soviet
Union.
It is understood that the agreement concerning Outer Mongolia
and the ports and railroads referred to above will require
concurrence of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. The President
will take measures in order to maintain this concurrence on
advice from Marshal Stalin.
The heads of the three great powers have agreed that these
claims of the Soviet Union shall be unquestionably fulfilled
after Japan has been defeated.
For its part, the Soviet Union expresses it readiness to
conclude with the National Government of China a pact of
friendship and alliance between the U.S.S.R. and China in
order to render assistance to China with its armed forces for
the purpose of liberating China from the Japanese yoke.
(signed)
Joseph Stalin
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Winston S. Churchill
February 11, 1945.
Source: A Decade of American Foreign Policy : Basic
Documents, 1941-49 Prepared at the request of the Senate
Committee on Foreign Relations By the Staff of the Committee
and the Department of State. Washington, DC : Government
Printing Office, 1950